Catholic Dictionary
Find accurate definitions of over 5,000 Catholic terms and phrases (including abbreviations). Based on Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.
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ARCHIVES
A repository of public records and historical documents. Diocesan archives are a compartment in a sage place containing all the pertinent written material regarding the material and spiritual affairs of a diocese. Within these archives are certain confidential documents. Keeping the archives up to date and catalogued is required by Church law. The provincial and generalate houses of religious institutes also have archives, some of them going back many centuries. (Etym. Latin archivum; Greek archeion, a public building, residence of magistrates.)
